To
date, officials have linked 84 cases of Hepatitis C that have turned up in Las
Vegas to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, where all those infected
received treatment. A CDC report released Friday officially confirms the cause
of the outbreak and—based on state and federal officials’ observations of
patient procedures at the clinic—details a variety of unsanitary practices,
including nurses’ and anesthesiologists’ failing to perform basic hand hygiene
when administering intravenous medications.
State health officials contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) when two patients treated at the clinic were later diagnosed with
Hepatitis C. The clinic recommended that 50,000 of the clinics’ patients be
tested, which is when the 84 cases were confirmed.
The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada routinely reused syringes on multiple
patients, a negligent practice which exposed thousands of patients to blood
borne diseases, including Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS. All of these diseases are extremely debilitating and can be fatal.
The Hepatitis injury lawyers at our firm want to hold the Endoscopy Center of
Southern Nevada accountable for the gross negligence that occurred there. It is
our contention that the clinic should be responsible for any medical bills, lost
wages, and pain and suffering caused by this negligence. Our Hepatitis injury
lawyers will work hard to ensure victims of the Endoscopy Center of Southern
Nevada receive the compensation they deserve.
The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada is one of the largest such
gastroenterology practices in the area. The center was closed and fined $500,000
after the Nevada State Health Division discovered several cases of hepatitis C
that appeared to originate in the clinic earlier this year. Two of the center’s
doctors, including its owner, Depak Desai, have been suspended from practicing
medicine.
The outbreak caught the attention of law enforcement authorities, including the
Nevada attorney general, who are now undertaking investigations and under the
presumption that the clinic may be also guilty of fraud.
Hepatitis C is a blood disorder transmitted through blood-to-blood contact, such
as that which occurred when practitioners at the Endoscopy Center of Southern
Nevada reused syringes. Hepatitis C is, for the most part, asymptomatic;
however, approximately 70% of those infected will develop serious liver disease.
Hepatitis C is a risk factor for liver cancer and can lead to the need for a
liver transplant.
Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and HIV may have been spread when clinic staff reused
syringes and used a single dose of anesthesia medication on multiple patients. A
syringe would become contaminated by the backflow of blood when patients with a
blood-borne disease were injected with medication. That syringe, in turn, would
be reused to withdraw medication from a different vial. That vial could become
contaminated and result in infection. Several nurses and other practitioners at
the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada admitted to health investigators that
they reused syringes at the direction of the clinic’s management. Reusing
syringes violates medical standards for infection control. Our Hepatitis injury
lawyers will work hard to make sure the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada is
held accountable for this negligence.
Source : Legal News, Health Concerns.
